Like all of us who stitch and sew, I am making masks. This is my lovely daughter who some of you will remember from our booth at Creativfestival when it was still Creative Stitches, before Covid closed all the quilt and sewing shows.  

The mask she is wearing is make from one of the hitomezashi sashiko sampler fabric kits. She only got to wear it for the photo :-D. It is actually my favourite mask.

I've been washing and wearing it for a several weeks and it is the most comfortable mask I have.  I think this is because the fabric in these Olympus sampler kits is an absorbent and breathable quality cotton. (Olympus fabrics are noticeably higher quality fabrics. Maybe you'd have to handle a lot of fibre for this to make sense, but I swear I can feel that their cotton fibres are healthier, but I am digressing...)

You probably have your own favourite pattern for sewing masks by now. If not,  Creative Grid put out this handy three sizes acrylic template and at the moment it is my go to pattern. The curve over the nose and darts on the jaw line help it to stand away from the face enough for air to circulate, while it stays in place and gives lots of coverage.

I didn't line this mask, but I did fold the unprinted half of the fabric it comes with to the back of the printed fabric and stitch through both layers, so it feels quite thick and nice. 

I hand stitched the pattern pieces together, and simply turned the raw edges to the inside and stitched them down.

One more thing about this mask.

The markings on the Olympus preprinted sashiko samplers wash cleanly away, so you don't actually have to stitch the whole design. And I didn't. Here is a link to the preprinted sampler I used, and for the record, I have stitched the whole pattern for other projects, but this time I decided I liked the design when I got to this stage and I was pressed for time, so I just washed out the rest of the print markings and sewed up the mask.

There is no "have to"  that you have to follow when making.

Techniques, patterns, directions, are all useful, but in the end it is always your choice, and your right, to do what you like. 

Here is to being creatively courageous and Covid-ly cautious 😀

Take Care,

Susan